Going Home
by Dorku No Renkinjutsushi
Summary: A hundred years this pattern's been waiting. I think maybe it's found an owner...' KakaIru


**Title:** Going Home  
**Author:** creepycrawly  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Summary/Warning:** 'A hundred years this pattern's been waiting. I think maybe it's found an owner...'  
**Song:** Gyasi Went Home, BEDOUIN SOUNDCLASH

* * *

Kakashi wandered slowly through the market stalls. He was out of the village frequently, but it was rare that he got a chance like this. As a solo operative, he was expected to be in and out as fast as possible. On this mission, however, he was expected to be seen and act like a normal tourist.

He stopped at one stall that caught his attention. An old woman sat in the middle of it, weaving fabrics. Next to her, a small pot of brightly coloured water bubbled happily. And all around hung the fruits of her labours, brilliantly coloured fabrics and clothing. As he stepped nearer to the booth, she looked up at him, eyes milky and blind.

"Good morning, boy," she said cheerfully. "Looking for something for your darling back home?"

"Something like that, yeah," he said quietly. "He's from Wave originally."

The woman raised her eyebrow. "A Wave boy, eh? Well, how old is this boy? What's he look like? What area of Wave is he from?"

Kakashi smiled slightly. Inquisitive old hag. "He's sixteen, almost seventeen. He's medium tall, and he's got long, long hair. His skin is the colour of properly made milk tea, and his hair is the same colour as well-polished mahogany. His eyes are dark, dark brown, so dark that they're almost black. I'm afraid that I don't know where in Wave he's from, though."

The woman smiled. "Sound's like an Umino, that one. That would mean he's from Gyasi, way out on the coast. I suppose if he doesn't still live there that he's got a scar across his nose?"

"Yes," Kakashi said, nodding slightly.

"Ah, as I thought. He's the bastard son, that one is," the old woman said, grinning slightly. "Do you know both of his parents?"

"I did, but they were killed in a fire a few years back."

"Sad, sad," the woman murmured. "Still, if you knew both of them, then the boy's allowed to wear his clan colours. One minute, lad." She stood up slowly, and then hobbled her way around to the back of the stall. There, she rummaged around until she found what she was looking for. She folded it and hobbled back towards Kakashi.

"'A dark grey, the same shade as a winter sea,' the old man said to my great-grandmother. 'And a green, the same shade as the dune grass in summer. Tie it all up with a blue the colour of the new-born sea, and breathe some life into the ocean,' he said to her. And so she made this pattern, one of the most beautiful patterns ever made." She shook out what she was holding, revealing it to Kakashi.

It was a long, formal-looking kimono. The inner robes were indeed dark grey, and there was a pattern of tiny silver fish embroidered on them that shimmered in the light. The outer robe was a pale, sandy, mossy green that got darker the further down it went, and it had tiny shoots of grass and small crabs embroidered around the neck and sleeves in soft golden-yellow. Around the hemline, where the green darkened, a dragon had been embroidered, chasing its own tail. Around the dragon, tiny dolphins leapt and played, embroidered in the same shade of dark green.

The old woman smiled. "My great-grandmother invented the pattern, she did. My grandmother wove the fabric. My mother dyed it. And I, well," she smiled. "I embroidered all them little creatures back when I was young, young, young. Over a hundred years, this pattern's been waiting for someone special to wear it. Over a hundred years since the old Umino told my great-grandmother to make the Gyasi pattern." She smiled at Kakashi. "I think it's maybe found an owner, eh?"

Kakashi smiled at her. "Maybe," he drawled.

She snorted. "And you haven't seen the obi yet." She placed the dark blue fabric on the counter as well. "Those little dolphins are still playing with the dragon, see?" she asked, pointing. "Took me three weeks to embroider them properly with that silver thread. Then I did those little turtles, made them in dark green-blue. I spent more time making the dye for that thread than I did embroidering them. Still have the remainder, too," she laughed. Slowly, her laughter quieted and she looked at him seriously. "You say your boy is sixteen, almost seventeen?"

Kakashi nodded. Then, realising that the movement was lost upon her, he murmured, "yes."

She nodded. "Then he's old enough to start wearing his hair in a bun." She pulled out a dark blue ribbon, the same shade as the obi. "I'll put his sign on here," she murmured quietly. "Yes…that'll look nice." She looked up at Kakashi. "Come by at three o'clock. It'll be done and wrapped by then."

"How much will it be, Obaasan?" he asked.

She smiled slyly. "Over a hundred years this kimono's been waiting, boy. I can't give it to anyone but an Umino. My daughter and her daughter want nothing to do with this business. Come by at three. This is yours. All I want is you to come back one day soon, and bring that boy of yours with you. I want to see the last of the Umino in this, that's all."

Kakashi smiled and left.

At three o'clock that afternoon, Kakashi picked his way over the wreckage of the fight, looking for the one brightly coloured stall on the end. He found it, and in the wreckage, there was a bag. Tied around the end of the bag, a dark blue ribbon with 'Umino Iruka' and a tiny dolphin embroidered on it fluttered. Kakashi picked it up, gently closed the woman's eyes, and left to go home.


End file.
